GARDNER -- Massachusetts has some of the most generous veterans benefits in the country, but Gardner Mayor Mark Hawke said the cost of supplying many of those benefits is falling disproportionately on communities like his.

Hawke stressed that he doesn't want veterans benefits cut, but that some cities and towns have trouble paying for those benefits.

The benefits run from medical expenses to heating oil, and the annual cost is rising in communities such as Gardner. The state reimburses communities 75 percent of the annual line item it pays for veterans benefits, and the reimbursement comes more than a year later.

"The kicker of it all is, no community ever started a war or created a veteran, but in Massachusetts we're on the hook for 25 percent of the cost," said Hawke. He said what Gardner pays in veterans benefits has tripled in the past six years.

Matt McKenna, spokesman for the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Benefits, said each community is required to provide the same financial and medical assistance to indigent veterans, their families and eligible surviving dependents if the veteran dies. This includes money for food, shelter, clothing, housing supplies and medical care.

Hawke personally crunched the numbers to compare the population of each community and what it has to pay in veterans benefits.

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In fiscal 2013 Gardner reported it spent $708,000 in veterans benefits. Hawke said having to pay one quarter of that cost was painful for the city.

"That's $175,000 coming out of one of the poorest communities," he said.

That cost does not include the cost of employing a veterans agent who administers the benefits.

He said Gardner's per capita veterans benefit spending rate is just over $37, the sixth highest in the state.

He compared that to Milton where Gov. Deval Patrick lives. Hawke said the per capita spending for veterans benefits is $5.29 there.

Hawke added that the median household income in Milton is $97,000, twice Gardner's median household income of $48,000.

"This mandate is not evenly funded. It should be (spread) across the state," said Hawke.

The Montachusett Veterans Outreach Center is in Gardner but is not funded by the city. Executive Director Charles L. Bollinger III said he believes the center draws more veterans to live in Gardner and helped create Gardner's large veteran population.

Benefits paid to veterans who live in the Gardner community are reimbursed to the city at the normal 75 percent rate, but benefits paid to any who live in the housing inside the veteran center are reimbursed 100 percent.

An analysis from the Sentinel & Enterprise came up with a slightly different figure of $35.03 for Gardner's per capita veterans benefit spending. When asked about the difference in figures, Hawke said the difference was small and his analysis included different months for veterans spending, which are constantly changing.

The Sentinel & Enterprise analysis used the 2010 census numbers for population and the fiscal 2013 veterans benefits spending reported to the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Benefits. Using these numbers allowed a consistent comparison between the 10 communities in the Sentinel & Enterprise coverage area.

Gardner's per capita of spending of $35.03 was the highest in the area, while Lunenburg's $3.65 was the lowest, about one-ninth of what Gardner pays per capita.

Ashburnham Town Administrator Doug Briggs said he's noticed the steady rise of veterans benefits in the town budget. Last year Ashburnham reported to the state it spent $84,241.47, a per-capita spending of $13.85.

"You don't know if it's the (economic) shift, or that there are more people out there, or the people that are out there are now realizing that they can get these services," he said.

Leominster Veterans Agent Richard Voutour, on the other hand, said there has been no pattern of cost increases in Leominster. His per-capita spending was $8.24.

Fitchburg Veterans Agent Michele Marino came on board in July 2011 when the monthly spending on veterans benefits was $10,000 a month. She said it is now $50,000 a month.

Last year her city spent $548,779.45 in benefits, a per capita rate of $13.61. She said as veterans age they need more medical care, and over time more veterans learn about the services available to them.

David Murphy, 66, of Lunenburg, is an Army veteran and widower who lives alone in a senior housing center. He bears a strong resemblance to Abe Lincoln, right down to the mustache-less beard. A recovering alcoholic, he receives health benefits through the Veterans Administration and said his medical needs are always going up.

"My body is breaking down," said Murphy. "I jumped out of too many airplanes."

Murphy was in the Army from 1964 to 1966 as a paratrooper and participated in the 1965 invasion and occupation of the Dominican Republic. During his service, Murphy broke nearly every bone in his body in a failed parachute jump. His parachute deployed, but the folds of his parachute stuck together and refused to billow out to catch air.

Infantrymen call this a "Roman candle" because of the shape the flat parachute makes. His reserve parachute became entangled in his original parachute and he hit solid ground.

"I'm told I bounced four times," said Murphy.

His biggest complaint today is post-traumatic stress disorder, something he said took nine years to get the government to recognize. He's lived in shelters for homeless veterans in the past, a veterans issue he said America has not solved.

"All the kids coming back today have the same problems we did," he said. "No one comes home uninjured."

He said veterans benefits are in danger of being cut by the same political bodies that sent them to war in the first place.

"They owe them. I owe them. You owe them. We all do," he said.

Hawke said he's always fearful someone will take his stance the wrong way and think he opposes helping veterans. He said during a down economy everyone suffers, especially the poor.

"Those on edge are going to look for any available resource," he said. Hawke said some veterans may have been held back by pride and eventually had to give in and accept public assistance.

He said he doesn't have a solution to solve the veteran benefit funding problem. He said a federal or state solution would help spread the cost among communities, but he knows the state lacks spare money right now.

State Rep. Harold P. Naughton Jr., D-Clinton, who himself is a major in the Army Reserves, called the veterans benefits Massachusetts gives "a nation-leading program" and something Massachusetts owes its veterans.

He said the 25 percent fraction communities have to pay doesn't sound exorbitant, but when presented with the numbers communities have to pay, he said he'd be happy to work with municipal leaders like Hawke in the next legislative session to find ways to alleviate the stress benefits put upon municipal budgets.

"Personally I'd be proud to have that number of veterans in my community," said Naughton.

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